Vessel
by karl0336
Summary: A brief one-off about the life (and death) of a peculiar vessel. Things aren't easy when you're just born.


Void

Darkness

Void

Darkness...

...sensation...

Void?

No

Motion

Forwards

Forwards

Light

Barrier

…will

Impact

Again

Again

Again

Aga...

* * *

Rusty hinges screamed in protest as the red metal doors were flung open by unknown force. Something shot through them into the sunlight, managing to run a few steps before tripping over its own feet and landing with a thump, the impact carving a small trench in the grass. As final squeaks from the doorway died down the being which caused the racket lay still. Not unconscious or unable to move, just unsure of what to do next. In fact it didn't even know if it should do anything at all.

Popping into existence from nothing can be so inconvenient.

Slowly the head rose from the mound of dirt. Eyes stared at the world around them through messy locks of hair, fingers dug into the grass as they lifted up the torso they were connected to. Some instinct guided the beings first actions but did little in the way of providing knowledge one would consider useful. Knowledge such as: "how to stand".

Crouching didn't feel quite right. Too short of a posture. Unless the arms were meant for movement as well? So maybe… no…

Slowly it tried to figure out its various limbs and bodyparts in experimentation that soon yielded results as the being carefully rose up on wobbly feet. Uncertainty was luckly brief and the posture quickly steadied as the beings gaze now turned on its own alien, yet somehow familiar body. It looked remarkably like a human, on the condition you considered monochrome gray to be their regular color.

And thought it was normal they materialized from abandoned bunkers. Speaking of which…

The being turned around towards the passage through which it had so crudely entered this world. Doors and the entryway were still there but something beyond them was missing. The darkness within felt different, like only an echo of what it had been a few moments ago. Almost like the doorway had connected to someplace else entirely, a place darker, yet darker…

Strange but nothing to be concerned over. It's not like disappearing corridors were the strangest thing to have happened in the past five minutes, though it might not be that reassuring when you happen to hold that title. Luckly the being didnt know that. It had other concerns.

Concerns in the form of a question.

What now?

The being chose to wait.

The sun had set and a bluish darkness settled in the forest. The being was laying on its back, staring at the stars.

And listening to the screams.

They had begun a few hours ago from the north. First almost indistinguishable from birdsong and wind before exploding into a crescendo of wails and cries. But that was some time ago and by now the sounds (or whatever made the sound) had almost died down. Not that the being cared. It had its own conundrums to solve.

It had discovered that the soft gray material on its torso could be peeled back to reveal another layer of gray skin and, more surprisingly, a hole in the shape of a heart.

It, whatever the being was, was incomplete. Unfinished. Something was missing from it.

This correlated with a strange growing sensation from the hole itself. A longing of sorts for something indescribable that made staying motionless almost impossible.

The being had tried to alleviate it by stuffing the hole full of grass, dirt, rocks, even its own hands. When all else failed it even resorted to ripping off one of the handlebars from the red doors.

It wasn't quite sure what the final action had achieved but some part of its mind felt a bit better after this meaningless destruction. And holding the resulting pipe somehow gave off a bit of confidence.

But now there was an impasse. The gnawing within its chest had become almost unbearable and there was nothing more the being could do. It had to look somewhere else, but where? The mountain of unknowns and problems rose the more it tried to figure things out. There was just no indicatio…

A scream pierced the air, much louder and closer than those before. A single high pitched voice of utter desperation, enough to stir some primal fear in every living being that heard it.

Except in the grey entity, who only felt mild curiosity.

Maybe that would be a good place to start looking?

The forest path was wide and empty, making it easy to navigate in the darkness even for someone who was walking for the first day in their lives.

Incidentally the path was also clear enough to fully see the scene further up ahead unfold.

Two beings, one some horned deer-like monster and the other a human in a green sweater with yellow stripes dragging something behind it. Their relation to one another was interesting with the monster desperately trying to crawl away while the human walked as slowly as…

… well, as humanly possible.

This all was accompanied in various screams, sobs and begging from the apparently female monster, including the word "Kris", directed straight at the human.

Maybe that was the their name?

 _Do I have a name?_

The grey being wondered this as it kept walking towards the two. Maybe it should stick around and try to learn something? Some part of it felt that would require "talking", whatever that was.

It was almost infuriating how everything felt so familiar yet was clouded by a shroud, out of the beings reach. Like a constant sense of… of deja vu. Like that. It didn't even know what "deja vu" meant, it was just something that popped up in its mind.

Why must everything be so difficult?

The two strangers meanwhile had not stopped their charade. The human produced some metallic triangular object and under the grey beings eyes proceeded to stab it into the monster, who slowly curled up and disintegrated into dust, ceasing to exist.

Well, the human seemed free now. Might as well try and "talk".

It walked up to him and just at it opened its mouth, several things happened at once.

Firstly, the human actually seemed to notice its existence. Its bright red eyes narrowed and he even took a step back in seeming disbelief, revealing whatever it had been dragging around.

A wheeled pulley with a cage on it. And within the cage was something red. Something glowing. Something beautiful.

It was a heart.

The whisper from the being's chest turned into a scream in its mind, blocking out all thought and reason. For the first time it knew what it wanted, what the imperfection in it needed. It was right there. Only a few steps and…

The human stabbed it in the stomach.

They both stopped in equal shock, staring at the knife and the hole it had produced. There wasn't any blood, just another gaping, black void in the beings body. No pain, but… something else.

 _Anger. Fight back._

It punched the human in the face.

Avoid the knife.

The being swung its other arm, still clutching the pipe from earlier, managing to deflect the humans next stab and sending sparks into the air as the knife went flying into the darkness. A few more warning swings were enough to drive the human back and allow the being to concentrate on the cage, smashing at it wildly to break out the prize. The heart called out to it. It was so close. One more swing.

The human rammed it, stabbing it in the side. They fell over in the collision, rolling on the ground as the human managed to dislodge the blade and climb on top of his newest victim. Their hands locked in a struggle as the shining metal tip lowered ever closer to the beings face.

Out of some half instinct, the being acted. It let go and swung its head upwards, as if intending to headbut. The blade passed through skin like paper and the sudden impact caused the pommel to smash against the humans nose. With a growl he recoiled and was thrown off. The way was clear.

But something was wrong. The being felt like a deflating balloon. Every movement had to be forced, every motion was a struggle. There still wasn't pain but rather a suddenly increasing emptiness. Its mind was slipping from which it came, darkness oozing out of the new gaps within its body.

The being was afraid.

 _Vessel. Fight._

The heart whispered to it. It couldn't give up. It couldn't. With last strenght it threw itself towards the cage, dull impact shaking it body.

Nearly there. The cage was within its reach.

A foot smashed into his ribs with enough strength to roll the being onto its back.

The human had recovered. His face was red from streaks of blood running down his nose, dripping onto the grey being. He was holding the knife.

It rose.

It came down. Again and again and again. Gray skin and clothes were torn to shreds, ripped to dust under the blade and revealing nothing but darkness within them. An empty shell.

A vessel.

Void.

Darkness.

Nothing.

It was over.

* * *

 _V_ _ery interesting._

 _Outcome unforeseen by current predictions._

 _More testing required._

 _Recreating parameters._

 _Test commence._


End file.
